MONTPELIER – The Vermont Senate Committee on Government Operations is seeking to revive a bill to relax the state's open meeting law. Senate Bill 114 would give municipalities more time to post meeting minutes online and allow more time for officials to respond to allegations of violations of the open meeting law.

The deadline for passing the bill out of committee was Friday, but the Vermont League of Cities and Towns, which proposed the bill, obtained an extension for the bill to be considered by the Senate committee. Whether the Senate Rules Committee will allow the bill to proceed to the floor is unknown, said committee Chairwoman Sen. Jeanette White, D-Windham.

"I put (the bill) out there to get the conversation going," White said. "There are parts of it I don't agree with, even though I introduced it, but I introduced it so we had something for people to react to."

Sen. Joe Benning, R-Caledonia District, who belongs to the rules committee said "the tendency is to not want to move bills forward at this point."

The VLCT pushed for the legislation after changes to the open meeting law last year. Some town clerks claim they lack the resources and technological knowledge to comply with the law, which requires them to post minutes within five days of a meeting, said Steven Jeffrey, the league's executive director. Jeffrey proposed the deadline be extended to 10 days.

The Vermont Press Association opposes the bill.

"The open meeting law is specifically designed to provide adequate information for the public, on the democratic principle that an informed citizen makes a good decision," said Tom Kearney, manager editor of the Stowe Reporter and the Waterbury Record, in a letter to the Senate Committee on Government Operations.

During a committee meeting Thursday, senators proposed several amendments to the bill as a compromise between the two viewpoints. Those include modifying the deadline to post meeting minutes online to eight days but only as an adjustment period to give town clerks and managers more time to brush up on their technological skills. In July 2016, the deadline would revert back to five days.

"It just seems silly the whole town can't find someone to put up minutes in five days, said Sen. Anthony Pollina, P/D-Washington County. "It's like putting something up on Facebook. It takes five seconds."

Another proposed amendment would give municipal officials 10 days to respond to allegations that they violated the open meeting act.

Committee members rejected another section of the bill that would have exempt certain committees and subcommittees from criminal penalties for knowingly and willingly violating open meeting law.

Joseph Choquette III, lobbyist for Vermont Press Association, said that section was the most concerning part of the bill because there would be no way to enforce open meeting law on those committees. The Senate Committee on Government Operations is scheduled to vote on the amendments Monday.